I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter Four: Worst Fear

Delilah sat patiently in the library, waiting for Draco to show up for their last session of the year.

This past year hadn't gone as smoothly for tutoring as it had the year before. She didn't know it was possible, but Draco did appear to be cockier than before, not to mention she believed he enjoyed smart mouthing her during tutoring.

She thought of earlier that day, when Draco had come to her seeing if they could skip tutoring, seeing as it is a few weeks until they get to go home. Delilah refused and he seemed angry with her for it. She didn't doubt he'd probably give her a hard time once he got here, he might even bring along his mindless followers so she'll get nervous and stutter. He had figured out early that past year she only stutters when she's around two or more people she's not comfortable with. He liked to use that as his advantage.

She checked the time again, and noticed he was late. She sighed, before shrugging off the idea of having McGonagall dock Slytherin points. They only had a few weeks left, she figured she would do him a favor and not let McGonagall know about it.

She heard someone snicker and she quickly glanced around the library, a curious look on her face. She heard a few more snickers and she grabbed her wand, standing up from her chair.

She didn't know who was there, but she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach that something bad was going to happen.

Just as she was about to sit down, a small book came falling right beside her and she screamed, jumping away towards the table. She clutched her chest and glanced up towards the ceiling to see what was happening.

Nothing was there, and she felt slightly foolish for thinking it. The book most likely fell off the shelf and she was just being paranoid.

Picking up the book and placing it back on the nearest shelf, she returned to her seat and waited patiently for Draco.

Earlier in the year, Professor Lupin had the third years face a Boggart, Delilah had, much to her dismay, revealed to the class her deepest fear, which was being crushed to death by an array of heavy objects, mostly large rocks. She was happy no one really knew who she was, because no one really paid attention to her Boggart hovering above her in the form of crumbling rocks and witnessed her changing it into falling gumdrops.

But, for some reason, she believed someone in that class full of people noticed her fear, because just as the thought entered her mind another book fell from above her, this time directly over the table in front of her. She jumped back, nearly tipping the chair back. No way could the book have fallen from a shelf there and Peeves the Poltergeist didn't even know who she was so she doubted he was behind all this.

She quickly stood up, and as soon as she did another book fell from above her and landed on her right foot. She bit her lip, trying to push the idea of the books getting closer to her head out of her mind.

She heard more snickers and glared around the area, before realizing what was happening. She had Draco and his friends in her DADA class, and she had upset Draco by not calling off their tutoring for the night so he was getting back at her by using her worst fear to torment her.

She huffed, gathering her bag and books and quickly hurrying out of the library, quickening her pace as she heard a few books falling behind her as she ran.

Just as she ran out of the library she bumped into something and fell back, dropping her things as she fell.

"Watch where you're going, Carter!" Draco hissed, as he brushed himself off. She glared at him, quickly gathering her things. He gave her a curious look as she moved around quickly to grab her books and scattered quills that had fallen from her bag.

"What are you doing? What about the lesson?" He asked curiously. She glared at him, her heart still racing from the many falling books. "Like you don't know, Malfoy!" She nearly screamed, jumping up from the ground.

His eyes widened somewhat, surprised that she had actually called him by his last name instead of his first. Why in the world was she so upset? What could happen in the library that could cause her to be so upset, and apparently with him?

She quickly shoved past him, hurrying out of the corridor and most likely heading towards Ravenclaw tower. Draco was quite curious to know what had happened with her, and decided to check the library.

Just as he turned towards the doors, Madam Pince ushered Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy out of the library, an absolute vile look of disgust on her face as she did so. The three Slytherins kept snickering and glancing at each other. Once Madam Pince returned through the library doors, the three of them busted out laughing.

"Shows that stuttering twit right, eh?" Pansy laughed, clutching her side. Crabbe and Goyle both nodded happily, "What right does she think she has, bossing around Draco? He's more of a wizard than she could ever be!" Goyle choked out.

Draco gave them a confused look, but quickly realized they had done something to Delilah, seeing as they often referred to her as the "stuttering twit". "What did you do?" He demanded.

"Remember when we had to face that ole' boggart in DADA?" Crabbe asked. Draco nodded, and he continued. "Well, when the girl said you couldn't skip your lesson Pansy reminded us about how she has a fear of falling rocks or objects over her head, so we scared her out of the library!" he laughed, clutching his side.

Draco tried hard not to gawk at them. Sure, it was positively evil of them and he would have happily done it to any other person, but he felt quite upset they had been that cruel to her. He really wanted to snap at them for what they had done, but he couldn't defend a Ravenclaw girl, especially one he had let his friends talk badly about all year.

"Come on, Draco; let's get back to common room." Pansy said, lightly touching his arm. He took a step back, trying hard to think of an excuse as to why he didn't want to go with them. Not being able to think of any reason, he nodded and led the way back to the Slytherin common room.

Delilah sat in the almost empty compartment, staring out at the countryside while Luna sat across from her, reading her Quibbler upside-down. They hadn't really talked at all, but they both silently enjoyed having some company on the long train ride home.

The compartment door slid open and Delilah looked towards the door to see Draco, giving Luna a curious look. Luna didn't bother looking up from her magazine to know it was Draco.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Delilah asked, narrowing her eyes. He gave her a look, before turning to Luna. "Leave. I need to talk to her privately."

"You could say please." Delilah muttered, keeping her eyes on him. Draco ignored her, while Luna quirked an eyebrow at him. She turned to look at Delilah, "Would you be alright if I left?" She asked. Delilah sighed, nodding, "I can handle myself with or without a wand."

Luna nodded, tucking her Quibbler under her arm and exiting the compartment while Draco pulled the curtain over the door's window down so no one could look in. He took Luna's seat across from Delilah, while she kept an icy glare on him.

"What?" She snapped, crossing her arms. He raised an eyebrow, "I don't think I've ever seen you this angry before."

"I've never had a reason to be this angry with you before." She retorted.

"Merlin, for a Ravenclaw you are being really daft!" He argued. She gawked at him as he continued. "Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy dropped those books on your head, not me!"

"Yes, but I'm sure you gave them the idea because I wouldn't call off our lesson. Goodness, you are such a git. Do you really hate our lessons? I make them as easy as possible for you and you still get your friends to use my worst fear against me! And I refuse to tutor you ever again!"

"I never told them to do that! Pansy came up with that bloody idea by herself and Crabbe and Goyle went along with it because they thought I'd approve of missing a lesson." He explained.

"I bet you did approve." She muttered angrily, looking at the window. He paused for a moment, "For your information, I didn't." He finally said, leaning back in his seat.

She gave him a curious look, quirking an eyebrow at him. "You didn't approve of missing our lesson?" she asked curiously.

He felt a knot form in his throat and was quite surprised that he didn't know how to respond to her question. Finally, he was able to manage, "Well, you said so yourself! You make the lessons rather easy."

"But you always do badly on the questions I give you." She said matter-of-factly. Draco paused for a moment, before sighing, "Look, I don't dislike the time I get to spend with you during lessons, because I could never be seen spending time with a nobody Ravenclaw out of my own free will." He slowly explained, looking around the compartment.

Delilah stared at him wide-eyed, the edges of her lips turning up in a smile. "Wait," She said, a hint of glee in her voice, "Are you saying you actually like spending time with me?"

He felt his cheeks heat up slightly and he quickly stood up and walked towards the door, making sure she didn't see his face. "I don't think I need to repeat myself, Carter." He muttered. She smiled before he glanced over his shoulder. "Are you," he paused before completely turning around to face her. "Are you really not going to continue with our lessons next year?"

She gave him a sweet smile and shook her head, "No, I'll keep tutoring you Draco."

He felt himself smile; glad to know she was using his first name again. He quickly shook off his smile and straightened up, looking down towards his feet, "Well, then I guess we're done here." He said, reaching for the handle to the sliding door.

"Draco!" Delilah called. He glanced over his shoulder. "You're welcome to come to my house again over the holiday. My family and I enjoy having you." She said a half smile on her face.

He shrugged, "I doubt I will. Malfoys are very busy people." He said matter-of-factly before turning, opening the door and quickly walking out.

Delilah smiled, knowing fully well she'd be seeing his face at some point that summer.

A/N:

I hope you liked it. Like i said before, the school chapters in the early part of their friendship will only be about two chapters long. as they get older their will be more chapters of them at school and more chapters of them during the summer.

I don't know if anyone else in the HP world had the same boggart as Delilah, but i just really believed she'd fear being crushed by rocks. I didn't want it to be Voldemort like most character's boggart took the form of, and i really think her fear will be used again later in the story.

I'm trying my best at keeping Draco as "in-character" as possible when he's around other people. It's quite hard, and I'm sure it will be later in the story when he starts getting feelings and whatnot. I hope I don't get hate for it.

anyways, I hope to hear what you all liked and disliked about this chapter :) Please review! Thanks guys! Have a great day and I look forward to hearing from you!